by John Lyon
The Allegheny Observatory was created by a group of civic-minded citizens of old Allegheny who formed the Allegheny Telescope Association in 1859. Under the leadership of Professor Lucien Bradley, Josiah King, and Harvey Childs, the association solicited funds for the purchase of an eight-inch telescope to be mounted on a rooftop in downtown Allegheny. So unexpected was the response to their appeals that they reorganized their association into the Allegheny Observatory Society in 1860, and made plans for erection of an observatory and the purchase of a 13-inch telescope. A building was constructed on the hill overlooking Perrysville Avenue and the Federal Street extension. Because of the Observatory, the hill came to be called Observatory Hill, and, between 1890 and 1908, also became the campus of the Western University of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh. Triangle Tech and the Brashear Warehouse now occupy the site.
The first director of the Observatory was Professor Lucien Bradley, one of the founders of the original Telescope Association. He was succeeded by Philotus Dean. In 1866 a donation from William Thaw and others freed the Observatory from debt and provided an endowment to meet future needs. The Western University of Pennsylvania took over the Observatory as an adjunct to their Astronomy Department the next year, and Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley became director. Professor Langley was followed by James Edward Keeler, John Alfred Brashear, Frank L. 0.Wadsworth, Frank Schlesinger, Heber C. Curtis and Frank C. Jordan. It was during the regime of Professor Wadsworth (1899-1906) that the current building in Riverview Park was erected. However, although the cornerstone was laid in 1900, the structure was not dedicated until 1912.
A Century on the Cutting Edge of Research
Many advances in scientific knowledge have come about through the research done in the Allegheny Observatory. Under Professor Langley notable achievements were made in the study of lunar heat, the solar spectrum, and heavier-than-air flight. The first experiments with the lifting power of air were made in the old Observatory above Perrysville Avenue. His famous "whirling table" experiments were conducted in his study there. While at Allegheny Observatory he built a heavier-than-air model airplane. In 1896 he succeeded in demonstrating a pilotless model in sustained flight, the first accomplishment of its kind. The United States Government appropriated a sum of money that Langley might continue his experiments. His attempt, in 1903, to fly a ship capable of carrying a pilot was a failure, and Langley abandoned his endeavors. Later the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss made successful flights in models similar to Langley's, and in 1914 Curtiss installed a new motor in Langley's 1903 ship and flew it. Since the principles embodied in his historic model were thus proven sound, Langley is generally regarded as the "Father of Aviation."
After several years as assistant to Professor Langley, James Edward Keeler was head of the Observatory from 1891 to 1898, when he left to become director of the Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton, California. His outstanding work is related to spectroscopic research. It was Professor Keeler who verified by a spectrograph the constitution of Saturn's rings. He soon developed the astronomic spectroscope to a high degree of perfection and made a series of observations on the motion of the nebulae which at once brought his work the highest recognition in the scientific world. His magnificent drawings of the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, made with the aid of the great 36-inch Crossley reflector telescope, have never been surpassed. (Some other outstanding accomplishments of the Observatory, besides the work of Langley and Keeler, are its work in stellar parallax and research into the light curves of short-period variable stars.)
In 1869, the observatory was the first in the nation to broadcast time signals to Allegheny City businesses and the Pennsylvania Railroad over telegraph lines. The money paid by these users helped finance the research of the Observatory. The system, which eventually became know as the Allegheny Time System, permitted the railroad to operate more safely and efficiently. At that time, railroads operated by published timetables. It one person's watch differed from another's by only a minute or two it mean the difference between normal operations and disaster. Two trains could be on the same track at the same time and cause a wreck. Time signals eliminated these possible discrepancies. The "Allegheny Time" system would later be adopted by the United States Naval Observatory and become a national standard in October 1883 with the establishment of four time zones.
In 1933 a beam of light from the star Arcturus, 240 trillion miles from earth, was turned into an electrical impulse. That in turn switched on a huge searchlight atop the Hall of Science in Chicago to officially open the 1933 World's Fair. Three other American observatories co-operated by focusing their telescopes on that star the night of May 27 and catching its light in a photo-electric cell, which transformed the beam into electricity which was transmitted to Chicago. The tiny beam of light from Arcturus had taken 40 years to reach the Earth.
The present research goal of Allegheny Observatory is high-precision astrometry. The primary application of the astrometric measurements made is that of extra-solar planet detection and characterization of planetary systems. To date, no confirmed detections have come out of Allegheny, but one very possible detection of an extra-solar planetary system has been made. Preliminary findings suggest possibly two Jupiter-like objects orbiting Lalande 21185.
This discovery was made by the current director, Dr. George Gatewood. A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, he came to Pittsburgh in 1970. Since 1977, he has been the director of the University of Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory in Riverview Park. The MAP (Multichannel Astrometric Photometer) that Gatewood designed and built has been central in his recent discovery of planets around the nearby star Lalande 21185. The next step for Dr. Gatewood is to finish the new-and-improved MAP for use on the 10 meter Keck telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
When the Observatory was founded its only telescope was a 13-inch instrument, at that time surpassed in size by only two telescopes in the world, both 15-inch ones, at Harvard University and at Pulkowa, Russia. The 13-inch refractor is located in the left dome and is used by the general public on visitor's nights. In 1905, the James E. Keeler Memorial Telescope, a 30-inch reflector, became the principal instrument. The Keeler was where A.S. Snyder Hale showed that we could attain higher astrometric precision by observing smaller star fields, leading to the development of the Keck/MAPS instrument. The Keeler is open for use by all University of Pittsburgh Physics & Astronomy graduate students.
The third telescope was given as a memorial to William Thaw and his son, William Thaw, Jr. The families of these men gave about $125,000 for the erection of the Thaw Memorial Refractor, a 30-inch photographic telescope. Photographic work began immediately after its installation in August, 1914, and more than 60,000 photographic plates have been taken, most of them for stellar parallax (star distances) and for photographic photometry. The telescope is not used for visual work, since the lens is ground to bring to a focus the blue and violet rays which do not affect the eyes strongly, whereas the ordinary refractor brings to a focus the yellow or visual rays. This is the telescope used for G.D. Gatewood's preliminary Lalande 21185 finding of a possible planetary system.
The first floor of the building contains a lecture hall, with woodwork and furniture of solid mahogany, donated by Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Hall, of Pittsburgh. Here visitors listen to astronomical lectures illustrated by motion pictures and slides. On the first floor, too, are the director's room, laboratories, a guest room, and a technical library of 5,000 volumes. A bust of "Uncle John" Brashear occupies a niche at the end of the main corridor. Beneath the central section of the Observatory, a crypt contains the ashes of Professor Keeler, and John and Phoebe Brashear. On a plaque nearby is engraved this inscription:
Although the principal work of the Observatory is highly technical, it was always the hope of John A. Brashear that he could some day bring the interesting facts of astronomy to the layman. The late Henry C. Frick became interested in this aim and contributed $15,000 for the purpose. Thanks in part to his effrots, the Allegheny Observatory offers public tours on Thursday and Friday each week, from April through October from 8:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. These tours are free of charge, but do require a reservation. Reservations may be made by calling 321-2400 between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Tours feature a slide presentation about the observatory and current astronomy, and a guided walking tour of the building and domes. If the sky is clear, tour participants may view the sky through the 13-inch Refractor. A special open house is held once a year, usually in the early fall. However, tickets are required. This is the one time when, if the sky is clear, all three telescopes are available for public viewing. In addition, the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh sets up additional telescopes on the lawn.
John A. Brashear
John A. Brashear (November 24, 1840--April 8, 1920), renowned astronomer, and maker of scientific instruments, was one of Pittsburgh's best-loved scientists. "Uncle John" Brashear gained world-wide fame for the excellence of his astronomical lenses and other fine scientific instruments during the half-century he was connected with the observatory. He was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on the upper Monongahela River. His first contact with the science which was later to make him famous came when he was eight years old: Squire Wampler, a friend of his grandfather, showed him a telescope; and he spent many happy hours with the old man studying the heavens. In his grandfather's workshop he constructed, while only a boy, a telegraph set, an electric motor, a gyroscope, and a complete daguerrotype outfit.
He attended Duff's Mercantile College in Pittsburgh to learn bookkeeping and other commercial subjects at the age of 15, and returned home to work in a grocery store. His next job was assistant to an auctioneer, from which he resigned after refusing to become entangled in an underhanded scheme of his employer. Through the influence of his grandfather he served an apprenticeship to the pattern-making trade and eventually became engaged in the boat-building business. He traveled up and down the Monongahela River working at various boatyards until he settled in Pittsburgh in 1861 as a mechanic in a rolling mill. Here he met Phoebe Stewart, a Sunday school teacher, and married her after a year's courtship. Theey moved to their first home was in three small rooms in Allegheny in 1862, and here they lived a frugal but happy existence for five years. In 1867 he obtained employment in a South Side rolling mill and moved to Birmingham, across the Monongahela from Pittsburgh. While director of the choir of the Bingham Street Methodist Episcopal Church, he organized the Cantata Society, composed of church choirs from the South Side. He and his wife aided by his fellow workers and his father, constructed a plain six-room home at 19 Holt Street, on the hillside overlooking Twenty-second Street, which was completed in 1871.
Brashear had an inquiring mind. He spent every cent he could spare for scientific books, concentrating on the study of astronomy. In a workshop which he and his wife built in the rear of their home, he set about constructing a lens for a telescope of his own. After two years of work, the glass broke just as he was ready to apply the finishing touches. Undaunted, he set out again and in a year's time had finished a 12-inch refractor lens which was larger and finer than most of those in use in the observatories of that time. This work attracted the attention of Samuel Pierpont Langley, director of the Allegheny Observatory, who gave Brashear all work involving repair and construction of scientific instruments for that institution. Within a few years, Dr. Brashear had five assistants and so much work that he had either to move to larger quarters or enlarge the tiny workshop behind his home. William Thaw, came to his assistance and provided land, building and machinery for the factory at the junction of Buena Vista Street and Perrysville Road. Both the house and factory are still standing today.
In 1879 he became teacher of astronomy at the Western University of Pennsylvania (University of Pittsburgh). In 1897, was chosen chairman of the committee of university trustees in charge of observatory affairs. He was made acting chancellor of the school in 1901; Chancellor 1902-03, and during the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915 was named "the State's most distinguished man" by Governor Martin C. Brumbaugh.
During the half-century he worked at the Observatory he gained world fame for his scientific skill and knowledge of astronomical instruments. He died at his South Side home in 1920 at the age of 80, beloved by all and known affectionately to thousands as "Uncle John." The ashes of Brashear and his wife lie in a crypt beneath his statue at the end of the main corridor of the Allegheny Observatory.
John Lyon is the editor of the Northside Chronicle, where this article originally appeared.